Even with the problems of video, the stats section is better than anything we have had before. They will get it right. As a Grad I applaud RC attempt at bringing the game to everyone. There no questioning that Admin is behind the Lax team, or other sports at RC.

The Great Santini said. "They were running - it's a good sign when you see the enemy running. There was another good sign." "What was that, Dad?" "They were on fire."

I really like this game at this time for Noke coming off a strong Dickenson win. Given all the injury’s and illness to this team its no wonder it’s been an up and down season. Now we get to play a top ranked team from the North, what better learning experience for a team starting 2 freshmen on defense and running several on mid-field. These are building block games preparing for the ODAC.

Leadership from Dorsey, Brennan, Cameron, Carlson, Simmons, Sultze, and March will need to keep Noke focused on their game. Phelps playing time should increase as he over comes his injury and we can only hope Love recovers quickly. But as I have heard several times this team has depth and losing a player is no excuse. I love the attitude.

I watched about 90% of the Kenyon game. The stream was working fine until they broke the 100 view mark. the tech i spoke with stated they didn't anticipate that sort of demand, so they were going to re-engineer the application to accommodate all of us.

The Kenyon game was pretty flawless stream, last Sat. there was a very basic missing (footer) template file at the start, suggesting some re-configuration issues. Likely one of those things where a change was done for 1 sport but didn't propagate to all the other RSS configurations. Didn't look good, but they're working it out...certainly great for those of us living in the North. 8-}

Given the weakness of Tufts schedule and their lackluster performances on O, I expect 'Noke to control this one...'Noke 9-5.

Miller Time wrote:I really like this game at this time for Noke coming off a strong Dickenson win. Given all the injury’s and illness to this team its no wonder it’s been an up and down season. Now we get to play a top ranked team from the North, what better learning experience for a team starting 2 freshmen on defense and running several on mid-field. These are building block games preparing for the ODAC.

Leadership from Dorsey, Brennan, Cameron, Carlson, Simmons, Sultze, and March will need to keep Noke focused on their game. Phelps playing time should increase as he over comes his injury and we can only hope Love recovers quickly. But as I have heard several times this team has depth and losing a player is no excuse. I love the attitude.

Go Noke lets get another one.

A lot has be said about Roanoke's injuries and youth on the Forum, worth noting in regards to Tufts:

Their top goal scorer from last year, Clem McNally is out with an injury.

They start two sophomores at close D, both saw almost no time last year.

Their top offensive player to date has been a freshman, Hessler, who suffered an injury against Williams and may not play against Roanoke. Their face-off man is also a freshman.

Lots of youth and inexperience for both teams, neither can lean on it as an excuse if things do not go their way tomorrow.

Tufts' biggest disadvantage--aside from points D-III makes--, as always in this game (3 years), is that Roanoke should be much farther along, losses notwithstanding, in reaching its peak than Tufts. As most of you know, north teams start later and NESCACs even later. Add the long bus ride.

However, as last year (13-12 Tufts), I think Tufts can win this game if they play offensive lax as they did against Skidmore (which, btw, has demolished all others they have played albeit they have been mediocre teams) and the kind of defense they played Sat against Williams.

The sad part: the game does not mean much other than "bragging rights" or moves up/down in national polls which also mean nothing since only real poll is in May.

In that sense, the Maroons may be at the greatest disadvantage. They already have two in region losses as does their potential arch ODAC rival, Lynchburg. One of them is probably not going to make the NCAA tourney. Accordingly, Coach Pilat might hold out some injured players tomorrow who otherwise could play but who could risk aggravating curent maladies, thereby rendering them unavail for near future in region/ODAC more important games.

Also, as I understand it, under the newest NCAA formula, all games are now considered as having been played on "neutral" sites so Tufts will get no "extra" points for winning at Roanoke just as Roanoke would not if it travelled to Tufts. This will further discourage future North/South match-ups, which is unfortunate on many fronts. Moreover, as I now understand it, the South will now get 10 slots in the tourney and the north 12. That is wrong, btw, if one runs the proportion of teams distributed between north/south. 14/8 was former split which was much fairer in terms of # of schools playing. But...what this also does is make Roanoke's in region games even more important. I think this will also, in the North, discourage tough out of conference in region games for those coming from the best conferences. For example, Tufts, which has one of the highest SOS this year, plays WNEC and Endicott, both away, in addition to its tough NESCAC schedule and Roanoke.

I think this Tufts team may have the potential to be extremely good, especially when McNally returns. As for Roanoke, yes, they have been "up/down" but that is how they were last year at this time. I remember well at the time trying on this forum to not let Roanoke fans abandon their team after the Salisbury debacle which I saw. And they did "right the ship".

trains2154 wrote:Moreover, as I now understand it, the South will now get 10 slots in the tourney and the north 12. That is wrong, btw, if one runs the proportion of teams distributed between north/south. 14/8 was former split which was much fairer in terms of # of schools playing.

Slight correction, the 12-10 number does not refer to a change in the number of tournament "slots", it is an increase in the number of ranked teams in the South when they release the regional rankings. This effects the criteria and appears to improve southern team's chances of a Pool C bid, but it does not effect tournament slotting.

What a beating. watched some of it on the webcast. Pilat pushes all the right buttons again. Never count a coach Pilat team out. That loss to Kenyon could have been one of the better things to happen to noke....watchin a team celebrate on your home field like the won the championship is no fun. Noke creates so much chaos between the lines and teams have trouble getting into their O. Noke had possession MUCH more b/c of all this. North teams often times are overwhelmed by this physical play in Salem. March is good. Quinton is crafty and can shoot. shooters all over for noke. Troja can shoot. That D is still coming along. Not tons of big time dodgers on O but if they listen to Pilat they could go far. Boom boom boom, keep it up noke.

That's the Roanoke team I expected at the beginning of the season. As long as it doesn't let this one go to its head, which I think it did the early season ratings, the team I saw today will be tough to beat.

Salem, Va. -- The men's lacrosse team defeated #5 Tufts University 20-8 at Kerr Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. With the win, the Maroons improved their record to 4-2, while the Jumbos (4-1) dropped their first game of the season.

Roanoke, ranked #18 in the country (USILA), netted a season-best 20 goals this afternoon, and it was the highest scoring output since blanking Guilford 20-0 on April 14 last spring. They outshot the Jumbos 50-23 and won the groundball battle 68-32, including a 23-7 advantage in the second period. The Maroons were successful in all but one of their clear attempts (21-22) and won 23-of-31 face-offs.

Tufts held a 3-2 advantage early in the second quarter before the Maroons' offensive attack exploded, scoring 13 of the next 15 goals over the next 25 minutes to put the Jumbos away. The Maroons outscored Tufts 9-2 in the second period to give them an 11-4 advantage at the end of the first half.

With Roanoke up 15-5 late in the third, Tufts scored two goals in the final five seconds to bring them to within eight, 15-7, to start the fourth period. The Jumbos scored again, but an illegal stick penalty negated the goal, and a player was penalized for three minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Maroons took advantage of their man-up opportunity, as they scored two goals to give them a 17-7 lead with 12:08 to go. The men continued to pound away at Tufts, scoring the final three goals of the period, including Matt Nicola's back-to-back goals, which tied a career-high.

Billy Cameron had a phenomenal game with one goal, one assist, 10-of-14 face-off wins, and a team-best 15 groundballs. He needs just 20 more to pass Aaron Sims '94 for second all-time at Roanoke. The groundball mark tied a career-high for Cameron.

Ashton Hotchkiss finished with team highs of four goals and seven points, including three assists on the afternoon. Pat March scored two goals and led the Maroon attack with four assists. Matt Quinton netted four goals to lead the Maroons offensive barrage, while Justin Tuma, Jay Troja, and Nicola added two goals apiece in the win.

Chas Carlson had two goals and two assists for the Maroons, and he is now one point shy of tying Braxton Andrews '73 for 19th all-time in scoring at the college. His two assists passed Jeff Jones '97 for ninth all-time in that category, and he needs three more to move into eighth.

Jake Dorsey finished with three saves for Roanoke, while Matt Harrigan had 10 along with a team-high six groundballs for Tufts. Connor Ginsberg led the Jumbos with two goals and four shots on goal.

The team will travel to Virginia Beach on Saturday to take on Virginia Wesleyan in their second road game of the season. The Maroons hold a 15-2 all-time advantage vs. the Marlins and won 13-7 last season. The Maroons ODAC opener is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start.<pre>Score by Period 1 2 3 4 Tot
-------------------------------------
Tufts............... 2 2 3 1 - 8
RCMLAX08............ 2 9 4 5 - 20

The game was close at the start but as the report said, RC exploded on offense. They took excellent shots, only waiting for one on ones or point blank shots. The key to the game though lied in the faceoffs. RC, it seemed, never lost a faceoff. However, I did find there to be a little too much taunting by the RC fans and bench which needs to be improved. Other than that, a great win for RC. Tufts better rebound quickly for Wesleyan on Saturday.